Footprint chart
Volume Profile Analysis glossary · Volume Profile Technicals
Definition
A chart that displays the volume transacted at each price within each bar, typically split by side (buy/sell). A primary analytical tool for order flow reading.
Footprint chart in plain English
A normal price chart tells you where price went, but hides who did the pushing. A footprint chart zooms inside each bar and shows exactly how much was traded at every single price level, usually split into buyers versus sellers — so you can see whether aggressive buyers or aggressive sellers were doing the heavy lifting. It's like the difference between knowing a store's daily total sales versus getting a receipt-by-receipt breakdown of which items sold and to whom. Traders read this fine-grained "order flow" to spot where big players stepped in or ran out of steam, clues you simply can't get from the outside of a bar.
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